Texan in Exile

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Crazy cat (lady)

I can’t believe today is March 11 (which reminds me I need to donate to the late Joey the Garden Cat’s “catpaign” – see the link to his Facebook page if you are interested) which means spring is almost here, the semester is about half over (yikes!), we’ve met our $4000 deductible, and I’ll be fifty in ten months and two days (gifts are encouraged).

The older I get, I find time seems to fly by faster than it used to. When my kids were toddlers, I remember thinking they would never be old enough for Kindergarten. Now my oldest is 21, and my youngest is 15 and a freshman (not for much longer) in high school.

How can I slow down the next three and a half years before he graduates?

When John was three, I heard a lady mention the quote, “The days are long and the years are short.” One of my favorite authors, Gretchen Rubin, also uses that quote often in her books and in social media. The quote is a great reminder that time is flying (I just heard a whoosh), and I need to catch my breath, slow down, and enjoy life.

One thing that helps me relax is watching my cat drink water from his bowl. He positions himself carefully behind the bowl, dips a paw in to check the freshness of the water, “combs” his fur, and then hunkers down for a drink. He stands so still, and only his tongue moves in and out of his mouth as he drinks. I wish I had video to post. It’s the cutest thing! I usually stop what I’m doing and just watch. Charlie is such a dainty drinker.

My mom told me a long time ago (I think I was 11) that I needed to stop and smell the flowers. Watching my cat drink water (don’t even get me started on how cute he is when he’s sleeping) is my equivalent of stopping to smell the roses.

Our cat, Charlie, knocked his food dish down from his kitty condo this morning. He usually does that when he can see the bottom of the dish. This morning, however, Charlie took the dish tipping to a new level. Not five minutes after I topped off his dish with kitty crunchies, he knocked it over again. I put spilled food back in the dish and returned the dish to his condo. A few minutes later, Charlie knocked it over a third time. I put the bowl back on the condo and figured he probably wanted to play. I threw his mouse to him a few times and went back to reading the paper.

Bam, crash!! I finally gave up reading the paper, put Charlie’s food dish up a fourth time, and played another round of “mouse” with him. All of a sudden I realized that I was being played by a cat. He got me to play with him by knocking over his food bowl.

Charlie already gets me out of bed in the morning by playing the piano (when I forget to lower the cover), knocking items off the dresser or nightstand, or by cat slapping me. I also know to fill his bowl when he knocks it off the condo. Today he taught me a new trick – play mouse when he knocks down a full bowl of cat food.

Charlie’s training of his human is complete, and he has me wrapped around his cute, pink, soft fluffy paw.